In the morning it was a big departure of Adel’s family, his sisters’ families, Nader’s family and me. At the first stop, Aitan, the cousin sang her own song for us. The lyrics are sad, the melody is sad, only the girl is funny. Then the other cousin, Araz, also sang, this time a folksong (youtube link should follow, but only in November!)
After the first eating section we went uphill, first all, then a smaller group and finally only Adel with me.
He told me that that Turkish border is in walking distance and he also told me that in this area, Kurds, Azeri and some other are living in good neighbourhood. When Adel and I came back we arrived a bit late to see Araz now dancing. He is a shy 6y old, but you could see that this was not the first time.
For part II of picnic, the kebab section, we left to Chichest.
Sevginaz and Aitan (with cap)
It is a resort many people visit for picnic and you can rent bungalows, too. In the time of preparation, especially the girls wanted to play all the time, Badminton, football or hide&seek and their parents were worried that it would be too much for me. But to be honest, it is easier to play in the heat with children who can talk English than to sit in a group of adults speaking Turkish or Farsi (for Sameneh who cannot speak Turkish) and not giving them the feeling to be bored although I cannot do much besides guessing what they are talking about (Nader sometimes translates). I also like this, because you see how they interact, but when I sit for a while I get very sleepy.
In the evening, Sahand’s grandparents from Mashhad came to stay overnight. The plan is, that they go to Turkey with Samaneh and Sahand so that they are back to Mashad not much before Nader is back from our road trip to Tehran.
We came from the picnic but Parisa prepared dinner all the way ?. This time, the grandparents slept in Sevginaz’ room, she in the parents’ room and I in the living room. All families seem to be prepared for all that as always mats and blankets are at hand. For me it is a bit strange that you share those things with people coming before or after you but as I am in the travelling mode I don’t care too much.